The map of multilateral treaty-making 1600-2000: a contribution to the historical geography of diplomacy

The paper describes and analyses the successive geographical distributions of places where multilateral treaties have been signed over the life course of the state system. A large proportion of all negotiations occurred in just a few places and the collection of most frequently selected places shows considerable continuity over time. Treaty-making emerges as more of a secular trend than a cyclical pulse, being insignificantly impacted by economic cycles, and inconsistently impacted by hegemonic cycles. The work presents a measure of specialisation that helps to identify types of central venues in the multilateral treaty-making system. The actual selection of specific venues suggests functional and political considerations to have been most important. The sustained preference for national political centres expresses the importance of such considerations, while the actual choice of a venue in a specific case can be highly contingent.